American Go E-Journal » 2013 » September

The fourth season of the online European Team Championship kicked off on September 17 with the first round in League C, followed by the first A-League round on September 24. This year 32 national teams — a record number – will compete, with Greece and Iceland entering for the first time in League C, which now comprises 12 teams.

The British team hit the ground running on the 17th, with a 4-0 win over newcomers Greece, giving impetus to hopes of reversing last season’s demotion from the B-league (see EJ of 6/6). Click here to see British Go Association report, with game records. However, Switzerland (against Iceland) and Turkey (against Kazakhstan) also won all four games.

Looking forward to the new season, European Go Federation President Martin Stiassny, predicted “a brilliant competition” in League A, with France new possible favorites for the championship as they field a very strong team comprising 2013 European Champion Fan Hui 8d on board one and Thomas Debarre 6d and Remi Campagnie 5d (currently studying go in Beijing) on boards two and three. This makes them now as strong as both Czechia, last year’s winners and Russia, who won the first two championships. Stiassny also marked out Romania, with Catalin Taranu 5p now on board one, as likely be stronger than last season, though in fact in Round One they lost 3-1 to the French. Ukraine, who beat Sweden 3-1 in the first round, will also be one to watch according to Stiassny.

The Championship is sponsored by Pandanet and played with the new client GoPanda2 on IGS/Pandanet on Tuesdays, normally starting at 8p (time-zone UTC+1) in the EuropeanTeamChamproom. Click here for full results.

- Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the EJ. Graphic courtesy Pandanet home page.

Why isn’t go more popular in the West? That question has preoccupied go author and scholar Peter Shotwell for decades. Shotwell’s recently published “appendix” on the subject — appended to his ongoing “Origins of Go” study — is entitled Why the West Plays Chess and the East Plays Go: How Classical Chinese and Ancient Western Grammars Shaped Different Strategies of War, Weiqi and Chess. Shotwell examines his idea that the presence or absence of abstract nouns, the verb “to be” and other linguistic features developed and shaped the philosophies and resulting different strategic thinking of early Greece and Classical China. He provides the historical background of how and why this happened and concludes with an examination of the Thirty-six Strategies that encapsulate the strategic yin thinking of Chinese generals like Sunzi (right) and weiqi players of the Han dynasty, along with a short discussion of the reasons for the fall of the Qin dynasty. The full article is 274 pages, or you can download a 16-page summarizes of the most significant findings here.

“What’s the status of the AGA rating system?” wonders EJ reader — and AGA member — Brady Daniels. “ It seems updates have become scarce recently, and I’m sure your readers would love to know why, and what solution is planned. Shouldn’t ratings be updated after every weekend tournament, or at least, say, twice a month?”Provided that tournaments report complete and accurate results, the ratings are currently updated at least twice a month. Email ratings@usgo.org if you have other ratings-related questions or comments.

Every other year since 2003, a top Chinese and top Korean player play an exhibition match in Fenghuang City, China. The grand prize is 400,000 RMB (approximately $65,000 USD) and the runner up receives 280,000 RMB. What makes the Ancient City of the Phoenix Cup unique are the 361 human go stones (left) that mimic the game on a 31.7 x 31.7 meter board.

This year, Chinese player Chen Yaoye 9p defeated Korean player Park Junghwan 9p by 14.5 points in a 50 minute sudden-death match. White (Chen), favored in the opening, took a lead after two major ko fights, and stayed ahead until the end after 298 moves. For more information on this year’s Ancient City of the Phoenix Cup including game record and photos, please visit Go Game Guru.– Annalia Linnan, based on a longer article by Go Game Guru

“If you haven’t yet registered for the upcoming Gotham Go Tournament on October 12th, you may want to do it soon as space islimited,” reminds organizer Peter Armenia. Register online. “There will be generous cash prizes in all sections, and goodies for all!” Armenia promises. “We will have breakfast bagels and coffee as well as great snacks all through the day. Come celebrate go in the Wonder City!”

King of the New Stars: Yo Seiki (right), the first player in Japan to jump from 3-dan to 7-dan, was considered the favorite in the 38th King of the New Stars title match, but the first game of the best-of-three was taken by his opponent, Fujita Akihiko 3P (aged 21 to Yo’s 18). The game was played at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya on September 17; taking white, Fujita won by resignation. The second game will be played on the 26th.

Japan’s 15th Nong Shim Cup Team: Japan’s Nong Shim Cup team was decided by a different system this year. As usual, the top players were seeded, but two places were filled through a qualifying tournament for younger players. The seeded players are Yuki Satoshi 9P, Cho U 9P, and Kono Rin 9P. Cho will be playing on the Japanese team for the first time since 2004, as a restriction that was imposed on players representing countries of which they are not citizens has been lifted. Cho is the only member of the Japanese team who has won an international title, whereas the Korean and Chinese teams each have four current or former world champions. In the qualifying tournament, eight players who have been chosen as members of the national team competed in two mini double-knockout tournaments. The winners were Anzai Nobuaki 6P (aged 28, at left) and Cho Chito 1P (aged 15). Anzai has some accomplishments already, notably reaching the final of this year’s Tengen tournament, but Cho was a dark horse who has been a professional for less than a year. Though not uncommon in Korea and China, this will be the first time a 15-year-old has played for Japan. Like Cho U, Cho Chito was born in Taiwan.

“I’d like to get the SGF for Cho’s Encyclopedia of Life and Death,” writes Merlyn. “Does anyone know about this? I’ve found the PDF online, and I do know that Kiseido used to sell it on a 3.5″ disk.”
Email him at hitechbunny@myopera.com

“Issue #37 of Lightspeed (an online fantasy & science fiction magazine) contains a short story by Ken Liu, Mono no aware, in which go plays a big part,” reports Ronald White. “A quote from the story: ‘Individual stones are not heroes, but all the stones together are heroic.’” The story was originally published in The Future is Japanese, a book of science fiction stories about Japan.

Yeong Cha (center), an extremely strong player on the TYGEM go server, showed he’s just as comfortable on a real board by winning the third annual Emory Go Tournament player on Saturday, September 21 at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. “Yeong seemed very comfortable with vague, doubtful positions but he would always convert them into a winning position,” reports Tournament Director Jeffery Kerlagon. Emory University, which hosted the tournament for the third consecutive year, “provides a great tournament game room,” said Kerlagon. “It is truly a grand facility.” Just over two dozen competitors from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina turned out on a rainy night, and “New faces made this an exciting event,” Kerlagon added.

The Collegiate Go League (CGL) started its new season last Saturday with a “stellar” launch. “We had many close matches, a simul with American pro Andy Liu 1P, and an incredible final game which went 362 moves!,” reports organizer Cole Pruitt. Thirteen schools are competing in two leagues, with players in ‘A’ league competing for a spot in the year-end National College Championship next April. Open any university-affiliated go players and clubs in North America, “Last year’s defending champions, University of Michigan, continue to field a strong team, but we’re expecting to see some competition from other perennial strong teams like University of Toronto,” says Pruitt. Click here for full results and game records. The next round is in two weeks, on Saturday October 5. Games are played on KGS, in the Collegiate Go League room, under ‘Tournaments’.